Cow urine

'''Cow urine''' is a liquid by-product of metabolism in cows. It has a sacred role in Zoroastrianism and Hinduism.

Urophagia, the consumption of urine, was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes; urine drinking is still practiced today. Cow urine is used as medicine in some places of India, Myanmar, and Nigeria. Proponents' claims about its curing diseases and cancer have no scientific backing.<ref name="Nelson" /><ref name=":0">{{cite news |title= A cure for cancer – or just a very political animal? |author-first1= Andrew |author-last1=Buncombe |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-cure-for-cancer-ndash-or-just-a-very-political-animal-2031253.html |newspaper= The Independent |date = 21 July 2010 |access-date=21 March 2011 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |url = https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/from-cure-in-cow-urine-to-superior-child-pseudoscience-inviting-research-118030200581_1.html |title = From cure in cow urine to 'superior child', pseudoscience inviting research |first=Ankur|last=Paliwal|date=3 March 2018|via=Business Standard|newspaper=Business Standard India|access-date=8 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008202044/https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/from-cure-in-cow-urine-to-superior-child-pseudoscience-inviting-research-118030200581_1.html |archive-date=8 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/of-cowpathy-amp-its-miracles/article8994408.ece |title = Of 'cowpathy' & its miracles|first=R. |last=RAMACHANDRAN |website=Frontline| date=17 August 2016 }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/opinion/mr-modi-dont-patent-cow-urine.html |title=Mr. Modi, Don't Patent Cow Urine|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2016-06-16|last1=Prabhala|first1=Achal|last2=Krishnaswamy|first2=Sudhir|access-date=9 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008202044/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/opinion/mr-modi-dont-patent-cow-urine.html|archive-date=8 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> ==Hinduism== Cow urine is considered sacred in Hinduism. Cow urine is used in the making of ''pancha-gavya'', for use in Hindu rituals.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jain |first=Rupam |date=2010-03-08 |title=Cow dung and urine 'healthy' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7398029/Cow-dung-and-urine-healthy.html |access-date=2019-11-13 |publisher=Telegraph}}</ref> The ''Mahabharata'' narrates a story about how Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, came to reside in cow dung. In the legend, Lakshmi asks cows to let her live in their bodies because they are pure and sinless. The cows refuse, describing her as unstable and fickle. Lakshmi begs them to accept her request, saying that others would ridicule her for being rejected by the cows, and agreeing to live in the most despised part of their body. The cows then allow her to live in their dung and urine.<ref>{{cite book |author=Isobel Julia Leslie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDkEAQAAIAAJ |title=The Perfect Wife: The Orthodox Hindu Woman according to the Strīdharmapaddhati of Tryambakayajvan |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-19-562107-5 |series=Oxford University South Asian Studies Series |pages=60–62}}</ref>

== Usage == [[File:Cow's urine used as a medical treatment in India Wellcome V0041323.jpg|thumb|260px|Cow's urine historically used as a treatment in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. A sick man is held over a cow's hindquarters so that the cow's urine streams onto his face.]]

===Folk medicine === thumb|260px| Cow urine

Consuming cow urine is used as folk medicine in some cultures. The purported medicinal benefits of cow urine lack scientific substantiation and rigorous empirical evidence. Claims suggesting that cow urine can cure various ailments or possess unique therapeutic properties are not supported by robust clinical trials or research.<ref name="Nelson" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

Some Hindus claim that cow urine has a special significance as a medicinal drink.<ref name="Ben Burrows">{{cite news |url = https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/hindu-worshippers-drink-cow-urine-3017661 |title = Pictured: A very few Indian Hindu worshippers drink COW URINE to help prevent cancer |newspaper = Daily Mirror |author-first1=Ben |author-last1=Burrows |date=13 January 2014 |access-date=27 December 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160106081241/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/hindu-worshippers-drink-cow-urine-3017661 |archive-date=6 January 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Nelson>{{cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4592608/India-makes-cola-from-cow-urine.html |title=India makes cola from cow urine |newspaper = The Daily Telegraph |author-first1=Dean |author-last1=Nelson |date=11 February 2009 |access-date=27 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409084013/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4592608/India-makes-cola-from-cow-urine.html |archive-date=9 April 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> Among other usage, urine therapy is used for the medicinal purposes as a system of alternative medicine popularized by British naturopath John W. Armstrong in the early 20th century based on the metaphorical misreading of the Hebrew Biblical Proverb 5:15.<ref name="Alter 2004">{{cite book |last=Alter |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Alter |chapter=Auto-urine Therapy |title=Yoga in modern India: The body between science and philosophy |title-link=Yoga in Modern India |date=19 September 2004 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691118744 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6anlz6i71oC |pages=181–210}}</ref><ref name=Armstrong>{{cite book |last=Armstrong |first=John W. |title=The Water Of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy |date=2011 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1446489925}}</ref> His widely sold book inspired the writing of {{Transliteration|gu|Manav mootra}} (Gujarati: Urine therapy; 1959) by Gandhian social reformer Raojibhai Manibhai Patel, and many later works, which often reference ''Shivambu Kalpa'', a treatise on the pharmaceutical value of urine. However, according to medical anthropologist Joseph Alter, the practices of {{Transliteration|sa|sivambu}} (drinking one's own urine) and {{Transliteration|sa|amaroli}} recommended by modern Indian practitioners of urine therapy are closer to the ones propounded by Armstrong than traditional ayurveda or yoga, or even the practices described in ''Shivambu Kalpa''.<ref name="Alter 2004"/>

Cow urine is also used in Myanmar and Nigeria as a folk medicine.<ref name=Myanmar>{{cite news|title=An amazing cow's urine therapy practice in Myanmar|publisher=University of Toyama|hdl=10110/1993}}</ref><ref name=CowUrineonToad>{{cite journal|title=Effects of cow urine concoction and nicotine on the nerve-muscle preparation in common African toad Bufo regularis|journal=Biomedical Research|date=2005|volume=16|issue=3|pages=205–211}}</ref> In Nigeria, a concoction of leaves of tobacco, garlic and lemon basil juice, rock salt and cow urine is used in an attempt to treat convulsions in children.<ref name=CowUrineonToad/> This has resulted in the death of several children from respiratory depression.<ref name=KwaraWarns>{{cite news|title=Don't use cow urine to treat infant epilepsy, Kwara warns mothers|url=http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nnorth-east/118417-dont-use-cow-urine-to-treat-infant-epilepsy-kwara-warns-mothers.html|access-date=29 March 2015|date=2 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140903/http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nnorth-east/118417-dont-use-cow-urine-to-treat-infant-epilepsy-kwara-warns-mothers.html|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=live|newspaper=Premium Times}}</ref>

==== COVID-19 ==== Cow urine and dung is believed by some in India to protect against COVID-19.<ref name="Daria2021">{{cite journal |last1=Daria |first1=S |last2=Islam |first2=MR |title=The use of cow dung and urine to cure COVID-19 in India: A public health concern. |journal=The International Journal of Health Planning and Management |date=September 2021 |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=1950–1952 |doi=10.1002/hpm.3257 |pmid=34037266|pmc=8239506 }}</ref> There is however no scientific evidence that cow dung or urine improves immunity against COVID‐19, but consuming these products does increase the risk of animal-to-human disease transmission, such as ''E. coli'' and ''Mycobacterium paratuberculosis''.<ref name="Daria2021"/> Exposure also increases the risk of fungal infections such as mucormycosis in those with COVID-19.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pourazizi |first1=Mohsen |last2=Hakamifard |first2=Atousa |last3=Peyman |first3=Alireza |last4=Mohammadi |first4=Rasoul |last5=Dehghani |first5=Shakiba |last6=Tavousi |first6=Najmeh |last7=Hosseini |first7=Nastaran-Sadat |last8=Azhdari Tehrani |first8=Hamed |last9=Abtahi-Naeini |first9=Bahareh |title=COVID-19 associated mucormycosis surge: A review on multi-pathway mechanisms |journal=Parasite Immunology |date=January 2024 |volume=46 |issue=1 |article-number=e13016 |doi=10.1111/pim.13016 |pmid=37846902 }}</ref>

On 14 March 2020, a Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha hosted a cow urine drinking party with over 200 people in attendance to ward off COVID-19. This urine drinking party was held weeks after a leader from Assam, India told state lawmakers during an assembly that "cow urine and cow dung can be used to treat the coronavirus". Leaders from BJP had previously called for the use of cow urine as medicine and a cure for cancer.<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news |last1=Danish |first1=Siddiqui |date=14 March 2020 |title=Hindu group offers cow urine in a bid to ward off coronavirus |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-cow-urine-pa/hindu-group-offers-cow-urine-in-a-bid-to-ward-off-coronavirus-idUSKBN2110D5 |accessdate=7 May 2020 |website=Reuters |agency=Reuters}}</ref> In May 2021, two men in Manipur, India, Erendro Leichombam and Kishorechandra Wangkhem, were jailed for stating that cow dung and cow urine were not cures for COVID-19. They had criticized the BJP on Facebook for recommending cow dung and cow urine and were arrested under India's National Security Act. They were jailed for 45 days.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two Men Have Been in Jail for 45 Days for Saying Cow Poop and Piss Can't Cure COVID |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/dyv4vq/arrest-cow-poop-piss-covid-hindu-nationalism-modi-india |access-date=2021-07-06 |website=www.vice.com |date=2 July 2021 |language=en}}</ref> In July 2021, the Supreme Court of India ordered that Leichombam be released, saying that the "continued detention of the petitioner would be a violation of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution." The Manipur High Court also ordered the release of Wangkhem after two months in jail, citing parity with the Supreme Court decision in Leichombam's case.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elangbam Ranjita v. State of Manipur |url=https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/elangbam-ranjita-v-state-of-manipur/ |website=Global Freedom of Expression |access-date=18 January 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Released Manipur scribe to move Supreme Court against NSA |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/released-manipur-scribe-to-move-supreme-court-against-nsa/article35495502.ece |website=The Hindu |access-date=18 January 2026 |language=en-IN |date=23 July 2021}}</ref>

===As a floor cleaner===

A floor-cleaning fluid called Gaunyle is marketed by an organisation called Holy Cow Foundation.<ref name=Gaunyle>{{cite news|title=Use cow urine to clean offices, says Maneka Gandhi|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Use-cow-urine-to-clean-offices-says-Maneka-Gandhi/articleshow/46682574.cms|work=The Times of India|date=25 March 2015|access-date=6 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330110157/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Use-cow-urine-to-clean-offices-says-Maneka-Gandhi/articleshow/46682574.cms|archive-date=30 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Maneka Gandhi, Women and Child Development Minister, has proposed that Gaunyle be used instead of Phenyl in government offices.<ref name=ReplaceUrine>{{cite news|title=Cow urine cleaner to replace phenyl in government offices|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cow-urine-cleaner-to-replace-phenyl-in-government-offices-234914-2015-01-09|access-date=9 May 2015|work=India Today|date=9 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518094217/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cow-urine-cleaner-to-replace-phenyl-in-government-offices/1/412383.html|archive-date=18 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2015, Rajendra Singh Rathore, Medical and Health Minister of Rajasthan, inaugurated a {{INRConvert|40|m}} cow urine refinery in Jalore.<ref name=Refinery>{{cite news |title=Cow-urine refinery inaugurated at Jalore |url= http://www.deccanherald.com/content/475779/cow-urine-refinery-inaugurated-jalore.html |access-date=9 May 2015|newspaper=Deccan Herald|date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508022931/http://www.deccanherald.com/content/475779/cow-urine-refinery-inaugurated-jalore.html|archive-date=8 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=CowUrineHospital>{{cite news |title = Cow urine to be used to clean Rajasthan government hospitals |url = https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/cow-urine-rajasthan-government-hospitals-maneka-gandhi-251426-2015-05-04 |access-date=9 May 2015|work=India Today|date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150508015355/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cow-urine-rajasthan-government-hospitals-maneka-gandhi/1/433666.html|archive-date=8 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

===In farming=== thumb|260px| ''Jeevamrutha'' storage cans Cow urine has been used as a fertilizer, such as ''jeevamrutha'' that adds cow dung, jaggery, pulse flour and rhizosphere soil to the mixture.<ref name="SatyanarayanaJohri2012">{{cite book|author1=T. Satyanarayana|author2=Bhavdish Narain Johri|author3=Anil Prakash|title=Microorganisms in Sustainable Agriculture and Biotechnology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMlHHCXVP0EC&pg=PA63|access-date=6 January 2015|date=2 January 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-007-2214-9|page=63}}</ref><ref name=Paddy>{{cite news|title=Farmer cultivates paddy with cow urine, dung |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/farmer-cultivates-paddy-with-cow-urine-dung/article4193671.ece |access-date=6 January 2015 |newspaper=The Hindu|date=13 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227052550/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/farmer-cultivates-paddy-with-cow-urine-dung/article4193671.ece|archive-date=27 December 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also == * Cattle in religion and mythology ** Camel urine ** Insect tea, from the droppings of insects used in Southeast Asia as the scientifically-unproven traditional medicine ** Kopi luwak (civet coffee), expensive coffee from the partially digested coffee cherries from the dung of civet animal ** Panchagavya, Sanskrit word for the five cow-derivatives ** Prophetic medicine, drinking of camel urine by Mohammad as medicine * Alternative medicine ** Alternative cancer treatments ** Aqua omnium florum, use of water distilled from cow-dung as medicine in the Western World ** Cow-hugging therapy * Stool transplant, from one person to other as therapy in modern medicine

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Cattle urine}} {{Ayurveda}} Category:Pseudoscience Category:Ayurvedic medicaments Category:Biopesticides Category:Organic fertilizers Category:Urine